Big Fish

At the foot of Ursaring Mountain.

Heiduo stared at the charred forest belching black smoke, astonished by what kind of beast the arsonist had to be.

Judging by the scale of it, half the mountain had burned down. Quite a few Pokémon had surely perished.

Sure enough, wherever there were humans, there were bastards. They acted without considering the consequences at all. He hoped that person would spend the rest of his life in prison and never come out to harm Pokémon or people again.

Heiduo sighed as he waited for Deerling to point the way.

Shuangye and Sari followed closely behind him. They had also heard about Vaporeon being stolen and had come voluntarily to help.

Shuangye had learned tracking, and her Deerling possessed the tracking move Odor Sleuth. Since the theft had happened after the rain, the scent had not been covered up.

However, the moisture saturating the air still posed a certain obstacle for Deerling.

The closer they got to Ursaring Mountain, the lower the visibility became. From this alone, it was easy to imagine how much water had been used to put out the fire.

If the forest fire had not occurred, the Vaporeon theft would not have been a difficult case to solve. But the wildfire had occupied too much of the police force, forcing them to put Vaporeon's case on hold.

"So they really went up the mountain!"

The three stopped beneath a mountain ravine. Police tape had been strung above, forbidding unauthorized people from going up the mountain.

"Let's split up. We'll keep fifty meters between each of us! Fifty meters should be enough for us to look after one another!" Heiduo told them. Fifty meters was neither too far nor too close; if anything happened along the way, they could easily provide support.

Shuangye and Sari nodded in agreement.

Being unable to search the mountain caused Heiduo considerable trouble. Especially since patrolling below the mountain would get them spotted and questioned by the officers searching the slopes, making things even harder to explain.

Fortunately, Tuo Nan had informed the police beforehand. After confirming the name on Heiduo's ID, the officer let him through and told him to be careful.

"Gible!"

Gible poked its head out of the ground, holding a mottled crystal in its claws.

Don't get the wrong idea. The crystal was artificial, a cheap imitation rather than a natural product—just trash someone had discarded by the roadside.

But Gible loved it. It did not care whether it was artificial or not, and among its meager collection, this crystal counted as a fine piece.

Heiduo affectionately patted Gible on the head. Seeing the little thing like this made his heart ache.

No rush. There would always be bread.

One day, Gible... no, Garchomp, would have a treasure room filled with all sorts of crystals and precious gems.

His Pokémon would eventually obtain the things they desired most.

He promised.

"Boss! Boss!"

A bucktoothed man carried a black bag as he jogged toward a large truck.

The person he called boss was none other than the captain of that Third Squad. He frowned at the bucktoothed man. "What garbage did you catch this time? There's no room left in the truck! Throw it away!"

The bucktoothed man hurriedly said, "Boss, look! It's a Vaporeon! Not garbage at all! I just checked its level with the machine! Level forty-seven! It can fetch at least thirty or forty thousand!"

Hearing that it was an Elite-level Vaporeon, the Third Squad captain raised an eyebrow, snatched the black bag, and pulled it open for a glance.

Inside was a Vaporeon sleeping unconscious.

"...Not bad. Keep it yourself! After you sell it, whatever remains after paying the squad fee is yours!" The Third Squad captain tossed the black bag back. He stood to make at least five or six hundred thousand from this haul, so he had no interest in the bucktoothed man's paltry money.

The bucktoothed man grinned and hugged it tightly to his chest.

He had only gone to take a piss, yet he had stumbled across such a great haul!

"Sell it, and you'll have enough for your Black Sludge!"

The bucktoothed man looked down at the mushroom-like Pokémon beside him, which had a Poké Ball-shaped cap, and spoke softly.

"Mong!" Amoonguss answered. Its expression remained calm as it looked at the black bag. Perhaps it would once have felt reluctant, but now... it was used to it.

Compared to sympathizing with others, the feeling of never knowing whether it would eat tomorrow, of going hungry day and night, was far more unbearable.

Nearby, the Third Squad captain watched the bucktoothed man's foolish appearance and shook his head disdainfully. His subordinate was good at everything except that he was too stupid. After all these years, he had made no progress whatsoever.

If Amoonguss's Spore were not so effective, the Third Squad captain would truly consider replacing this guy.

Anyone who delayed him from making money would either die or die without a burial place.

As he thought that, a noisy, strange sound came from inside the truck.

"Shut up! Or I'll kill you!" The Third Squad captain kicked the truck, and the sound immediately quieted down.

The Third Squad captain spat. "Tch! If you didn't speak all those weird languages, you'd have been dead long ago!"

Thinking of the main source of the commotion inside the truck—an Eevee whose strange cries sounded as if it were speaking some ancient language—the Third Squad captain could not help smiling. Among their buyers was a collector who liked unusual Pokémon, and his offer was extremely high!

The only annoyance was that the young master who had come to meddle would also get a share. Still, even after giving up a slice of the profits, the haul would be enough to satisfy him.

Looking at the towering rock walls around them, the Third Squad captain held a long-range walkie-talkie and waited for the leader's order to retreat.

Those idiot police officers were surely still searching the mountain for them, unaware that there was nothing in the mountain but traps.

Noon.

Heiduo looked at the sky. The sun was practically invisible, hidden behind thick clouds that looked ready to bring rain. Not only had the fog shown no signs of clearing, it was growing denser.

"Could this be Mist..." Heiduo held a sandwich in his hand. Tuo Nan still had not called, which meant Vaporeon had not been found yet.

The wait was far too boring. Passively waiting for the enemy to come to him was an extremely foolish course of action.

If he were not worried about his Pokémon being attacked, he would have considered sending all four of them out instead of merely having Gible search the mountain.

Were they burrowing rats? How could they hide so well? They couldn't have Teleported away, could they? That was unlikely. The police on the mountain were not blind.

Teleport would leave extremely obvious traces, which Psychic-type Pokémon could spot at a glance.

What were those two girls doing? They hadn't gone home, had they?

Heiduo stared into the white fog, where visibility was around five meters. He had not heard their voices or seen them in a long time.

Shuangye had such a strong sense of justice. She probably would not do something so foolish.

Could they have found something and ditched him here?

Heiduo began letting his imagination run wild to pass the time.

The ground not far away suddenly bulged, and Gible emerged. It ran over to Heiduo and tugged at his clothes.

"Hm? What happened... did you find something?" Seeing Gible's anxious expression, Heiduo hurriedly went to look for Shuangye and Sari.

Charging in recklessly alone would be far too stupid.

Yet even after he ran back and forth seven or eight times under Gible's anxious gaze, he could not find Shuangye or Sari.

"Where did those two girls go?" Heiduo had a headache. Why had they vanished at such a critical moment?

Could they really have found something and left him behind to investigate it?

Shuangye, Shuangye! Have you forgotten what your actual job is?

Sigh... There was no time to worry about that.

Heiduo followed the increasingly anxious Gible and ran off. He could not miss this opportunity. Since it had found something, he had to search it out even if it meant crossing the blockade.

But strangely, Gible was not heading toward Ursaring Mountain. It seemed to be going toward Union Cave on Route 33.

"How did you get so far away?" Heiduo was shocked to discover that he was actually moving farther away from Azalea Town.

Gible traveled underground, exposing only its shark fin. To it, this was faster than running across the ground.

About fifteen minutes later.

Exposed yellowish-brown rock layers gradually entered Heiduo's view. They were already very close to Union Cave.

Union Cave was a cavern that cut through the mountains and connected Route 32 with Route 33. In the games, Lapras could be caught at its deepest level. In the anime, Omanyte and Omastar inhabited its underground caverns.

Both were extremely valuable Pokémon. If Pokémon hunters learned of them, they would likely be captured to extinction.

As an excellent means of sea travel, Lapras had always ranked near the top of Heiduo's list of Pokémon to catch. Its movepool was also deep, allowing it to learn all kinds of special attacks.

If he remembered correctly, Lorelei had a Lapras that had grown up alongside her. That Lapras possessed terrifying control over ice and could freeze a Rapidash in an instant.

But Gible turned at the entrance to Union Cave.

Its destination was clearly not inside Union Cave. It circled around the cavern, climbed the rocky mountain, and pushed through the rocks as it advanced.

Eventually, the human and Pokémon stopped at a cliff deep above Union Cave.

Below the cliff, a large truck was parked there, surrounded by four or five off-road motorcycles.

People and Pokémon stood guard beside those vehicles.

"It's a big fish!" Heiduo looked at those people. Would a delivery company's truck be out in this wilderness? And escorted by off-road motorcycles? Did they take everyone else for idiots?

Moreover, the person sitting atop the truck's cargo compartment looked exactly like the leader of that Third Squad he had seen on television.

"The Mole Poaching Group..." Heiduo checked the levels of their Pokémon. Most ranged from level thirty to level fifty. They had some strength, but there were too many of them. If he went in alone, he would clearly be delivering himself to them.

Heiduo silently activated his communication device to call the police, only to hear a faint busy signal. The signal was being jammed!

He glanced at the truck. The Mole Poaching Group had high-tech equipment like signal jammers?

How wide was the range?

A thousand meters? Ten thousand?

Did that mean Heiduo had to return to Azalea Town to get help?

What if they escaped during that time?

Heiduo struggled with the decision for a long time, but ultimately decided to go back for help. He definitely could not handle them alone. Not everyone was Red or Ash, capable of taking down a whole group by themselves. He had to be responsible for his own life and for Gible's and the others' lives.

"I hope I make it in time..."

He quietly turned around, slowing his steps as much as possible so that the Houndoom and Houndour below would not notice him.

"Help—ahhh~~~~ cough cough, help~~"

The faint cry for help stopped Heiduo in his tracks.

He froze where he stood, his face filled with disbelief and shock.